Industry mourns Four Winns co-founder

Posted on December 3rd, 2013

Four Winns Boat Co. co-founder Charles “Charlie” Winn of Cadillac, Mich., died Nov. 18 at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. He was 70.

Winn was a founder of Four Winns, as well as Lakeside Charlies Restaurant and Pheasant Ridge Estates, all in Cadillac, according to an obituary in the Cadillac News. He also was a founder of the Charlevoix Country Club and, long ago, a sales manager at Investors Diversified Services in Lansing, Mich.

Winn had a passion for water, antique boats and boating in general. He was a member of yacht clubs in Florida and Michigan and was a member of the Antique and Classic Boat Society, the Great Lakes Cruising Club and the Pine River Association.

Through the years, he collected and restored antique wooden boats. His enthusiasm for boating led him to explore harbors and marinas throughout the Great Lakes, North Channel and Florida waters, where he particularly liked taking day trips to out-of-the-way spots.

In a company tribute, employees remembered Winn as “the funny one” in the family business. Employees were happy to see him coming their way. If he was approaching someone on the line, it was going to be a positive exchange. He always had a smile, a story or a joke or two. Pranks were also in his nature. When one of his brothers put a totem pole in his yard, he returned the favor with goats in their yard.

Comments

It was an honor, a career highlight to have pioneered Four Winns sales in Northeast Florida in the mid 1980’s.

I will never forget Charlie’s positive outlook and warm outreach to the sales department.My parents are natives of Charlevoix and it was fun and a bit humbling to share stories and promote Florida boating.
Charlie approached the customer base with fond admiration and the awareness that the boat buying public is “smart”.